Mechanism for packing long length dynamite cartridges of low density



June 14, 1960 HEN L 840,353

M. C. GE MECHANISM FOR PACKING LONG LENGTH DYNAMITE CARTRIDGES 0F LOWDENSITY Filed NOV. 13, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 l3 a. .n.

INVENTOR.

MATHEW CARL HENGEL BY FIG.3 /q

AGENT June 14, 1960 M. c. HENGEL 2,940,353

MECHANISM FOR PACKING LONG LENGTH DYNAMITE CARTRIDGES 0F LOW DENSITYFiled Nov. 13, 1957 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 AEH I IIS I l5 l6 l7 FIG. 4

FIG. 5

INVENTOR.

MATHEW CARL HENG EL AENT L'IECHANISM FOR PACKING LONG LENGTH DYNAMITECARTRIDGES F LOW DENSITY Mathew Carl Henge], Latrobe, Pa., assignor'toAmerican anamid Company, New York, N.Y., .a corporation This inventionrelates to a new mechanism for the control of the density of dynamitesticks during the packing thereof.

O'ne-of the more common methods of packing dynamite sticks is to providea mechanism by which a series of packing tamps are reciprocated througha reservoir of-lo'o'se dynamite powder into the cartridges to be filled.Various machines of this type have been described, as for example in thepatent to Kimber No. 813,435, the patent to O Brien US. 1,126,651 andthepatent to Ba'shford US. 1,911,299, as well-as my eopendingapplication Serial No. 667,266, filed June 21, 1957. 'When shortcartridges such as 8 inch cartridges are being packed, the problem ofgetting a-cha'rge 'of low apparent density, which is sometimes desired,is easily solved by allowing the *stic-ks to reciprocate through thepowder into the open end of the cartridges, but not to tamp the powderin. The sticks are stopped when' 'the tamp 'has just entered thecartridge. When the latter are all full of loosepowder, 't'hesticks areallowed to make onetamping stroke. When the "same method is tried withlonger (16 and 24inch) cartridges the lOOSEfPOWdfil never fills thecartridge. "The loose powder is -pushed into the top of the emptycartridge and never gets pushed all the way to the bottom becausethetamp -is notenteringthe cartridges to push-it down.Consequently,-such'loose packed (or soft packed) cartridges have beenfeasible for 16 inch sizes only 'by packing from both ends in successionand not possible at all for larger sizes without hand packing.

"I :have discovered a simple apparatus which in .conjunction with thetype of packing apparatus involving atamp reciprocating through a powderreservoir permits not only soft packing of all sizes, but also allowsmore accurate control of the density of the powder packed in thedynamite stick.

My invention can be further understood with reference to the drawings inwhich:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a portion of one such common packingmachine showing the pack stick, the powder reservior and the cartridges;

Fig. 2 is a top view of that portion of the machine on which the packingdensity control is mounted;

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the same portion of the machine;

Fig. 4 is a cross section of the same portion of the machine along theline 44 in Figure 2, and

Fig. 5 is a cross section of the same portion of the machine showing theapparatus in an engaged position.

In the type of apparatus used for illustration in the figures, thepacking stick 1 is mounted on an incline frame 2 in such a Way that itcan reciprocate. At the bottom of the incline a powder reservior 3 ismounted in such a position that the packing stick or tamp 1 passesthrough the same on each reciprocation. Beyond the powder reservior 3the empty cartridges 4 are mounted in such a position that each packingstick on passing through the 2,940,353 Patented J une. 14, 1960reservoir enters the cartridges. In the operation of the prior art, oneach reciprocation, a pack stick I picked up powder from the reservior 3and pushed it into the cartridge 4i and pushed it as far as it coulduntil it 'met resistance. The packing stick 1 was impelled by either itsown weight or by the assistance of other weights, or as described in mycopending application Serial No. 667,266, can be impelled by the actionof a reciprocating cross head. However impelled, the packing stickpushed the dynamite powder as .far as it could and the effect of thepacking force was to tamp it into the bottom of the cartridge.

In the powder reservoir 3 there 'is located a paddleS which makes 1revolution per reciprocation in order to keep the powder stirred up andevenly distributed in-the reservior. This paddle is driven by a beltdrive (not shown) from ashaft 6 which .in .turn is rotated from the mainpower source (not shown), therotation'being timed to make onerevolution-per reciprocation of the-pack stick 1. In the apparatus of myinvention, there is mounted on this shafta cam '7 concentrically shaped.A lever 8 is mounted so that .a cam follower:8A is caused by cam 7 tomake one reciprocation per revolution. The lever 8 actuates a crank 9upon which is mounted a pawl 10. Concentricwith the crank 9, butrotating independently, isa ratchet 11 mounted on a shaft 12. This shaftextends fully across the frame of the packing machine underneath thereciprocating pack stick 1. 0n the shaft 12 at either side of thepacking apparatus on the inside ofthe frame, is mounted a cam 13. Thiscam is constructed as .a circulating rotating wheel containing aconcentric circular row of holes. bolted one or more .rotating rollers14. On either sideof the frame 2, on the .inside of the apparatus, ismounted a pivot 15 on whichis pivoted a lever arm 16. The two lever arms16 are joined by astop 17 which extends right across the apparatusunderneath the reciprocating pack stick "1. On each pack stick there ismountedanangular doig 18-on'the -end-of-the sticks above the packing.crosshead 19 (which reciprocates the sticks in such a way that when thelever arm 16 is-raised by the rollers 14, as in Fig. 5, the stop 17engagesthe dog .18. The position of the dog 18 on the pack stick is suchthat when thedog 18 is engaged by the stop 17 the tamping end o'fthepackstick 1 is .just extended through the powder reservoir 3 and barely intothe-cartridge--'4. When'the-leverarm -16 resting on the rollers 14-is inthe down;position, as is shown in Fig. 4, the stop 17 does not engagethe dog 18 and the pack stick 1 can make its normal stroke to the bottomof the cartridge 4.

In operation, as illustrated in the figures, the earn 7 rotates oncewith each reciprocation of the pack stick 1. Each such rotation causesthe cam follower 8A to pivot lever arm 8 in such a way as to cause crank9 to rotate turn. This pulls the pawl 10 through a 4 turn which in turnpulls the ratchet 11 through a turn. The return reciprocation of thelever arm 8 pulls the crank 9 back in such a way that the pawl 16engages the next notch of the ratchet 11. The net effect of this motionis to rotate shaft 12 through turn for each reciprocation of the packstick 1. The rotation of shaft 12 through turn causes the rollers 14 tobe in either a horizontal or a vertical relationship to one another.Depending on whether they are horizontal or vertical, they cause thelever arm 16 and the stop 17 to be in the up or down position. Thearrangement as shown in the figures causes the stop 17 to be in the upposition on every other stroke of the pack stick 1. Consequently, thepack stick going down through the powder reservoir 3 picks up powder andpushes it into the cartridge 4. The stop 17 being in the up position asin Figure 5, stops the down stroke of the pack stick 1 and the powderremains Into one-or more of these holes .is

loosely in the cartridge.

3 On the next reciprocation of the pack stick, the stop 17 is in thedown position as is shown in Figure 4, and the pack stick is permittedto go to its fulltamping stroke. It thus pushes a. double load'of powderinto'the cartridge. Because it is pushing in a double load of powder, itcan not tamp it down to a density as is possible with half that amountof loose powder. Consequently, the cartridge is more loosely packed.Thus, in summary, the stop 17 is raised and lowered on a predeterminedrepeating pattern correlated to the reciprocation of the pack sticks 1and consequently stop 17 is made to engage dog 18 in a predeterminedpattern of uninterrupted and interrupted strokes of. the pack sticks 1during the packing of each set of cartridges.

Various modifications and variables'exist in this apparatus. 'Theratchet 11 can similarly be constructed to provide different amounts ofpartial intermittent rotation of shaft 12 by varying the number ofteeth. Another variable is in the cam 13 since the number of rollers 14placed therein will also control the number of full strokes per totalnumber of reciprocations made by the pack stick 1. Thus, if a thirdroller 14 is inserted in cam 13 half way between the two shown inFigures 4 and 5, the pack stick 1 will obviously make one pack strokeper'4 reciprocations. The number of holes and the arrangement of holesinto which rollers 14 can be inserted in cam 13 are a'matter of choice,as are the number of teeth on the ratchet 11. vBy changing thesevariables, e.g., by the insertion of rollers 14 in cam 13, the apparentdensity of the dynamite within the cartridges" can be controlled. Someof these changes are capable of being made rapidly between the packingof said dynamite sticks. Some changes can even be made during packing,such as the stopping of the described mechanism completely by the simpleexpedient of moving the pawl through 180 so that it cannot contactratchet 11. Density can be controlled further by varying the speed ofthe reciprocation of the sticks. 'The customer can therefore obtaindynamite packed to the apparent density which he desired in a uniformmanner.

I have shown the use of my apparatus with an inclined reciprocating packstick. However, it is clearly usable with any such dynamite packingmachine-which involves the reciprocation of a tamping stick through apowder reservoir into an empty cartridge in which the flow of dynamitepowder into the empty cartridge is effected by the reciprocation of thetamping stick.

I claim: I

1. In an apparatus for packing dynamite which comprises a frame, apowder reservoir mounted thereon, a

plurality of cartridges and a similar number of nearly horizontalpacking tamps positioned to reciprocate through said powder reservoirinto said cartridges, and a means for reciprocating said packing tamps,the improvement which comprises an apparatus which controls the ratio offull packing strokes to the total number of reciprocating strokes ofsaid tamps, which comprises dogs on each of said tamps, two armspivotally mounted on said frame beneath the plane of said tamps, a stopconmeeting said two arms pivotally mounted in said frame, said stopbeing positioned to engage said dogs tointerrupt the full down stroke ofsaid tamps, said dog and said stop being positioned such that, whenengaged, the

said tamps are extended through said reservoir, but not appreciably intosaid cartridges, and means for raising and lowering said stop bypivoting said arms on a predetermined repeating'cycle, the said stopthus engaging said dogs on a predetermined repeating cycle ofinterrupted and uninterrupted reciprocating packing strokes during thepacking 'of 'one set of cartridges'by said' mounted thereon alonga'circle concentric to said first shaft, the said first shaft beingintermittently rotated a partial revolution with each said reciprocationof said tamps and means for such intermittent partial revolution insynchronization with said reciprocation, the said pivotally mounted armsresting on said rollers.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 in which said means for intermittent partialrevolution is a ratchet mounted on said first shaft engaged by areciprocating pawl, the said pawls being mounted on a crank reciprocallyconnected to a lever following a cam mounted on a second shaftjournalled in said frame, the said second shaft being synchronizablyrotatably connected to the means for reciprocation of said tamps.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 in which said ratio of interrupted strokesto total reciprocating strokes is 1:2. 5. The apparatus of claim 3 inwhich the said ratio of interrupted strokes to total reciprocatingstrokes is 1 :4.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

